By Zach Travis

Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Zach Travis is a manager of the Michigan Wolverines blog Maize n Brew. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. Read his column every week here and contact him anytime at zwtravis@gmail.com.

With fall camp rolling, Michigan has started to answer a number of questions as to who it will count on when the season kicks off on Aug. 31 against Central Michigan. However, there are still a few battles going on, and two in particular could be huge keys for the Wolverines in 2013.

Left guard

Coming out of spring ball, Michigan's two redshirt freshmen linemen, Kyle Kalis and Ben Braden, seemed to have a leg up on the rest of the challengers for the two open starting guard positions. While fall camp has firmly established Kalis at right guard, it seems that things are much less clear at left guard than in the spring.

One of the consistent challengers for the position has been walk-on Graham Glasgow, a 6'6 300 lbs interior lineman that has spent the off season rotating in at all three interior line spots. To open camp, Glasgow was pushing Jack Miller hard at center, but he is still getting reps at left guard as the coaches search for a solid option.

Ben Braden's time at the position has been rumored to have diminished as the coaches look at him more as a tackle — his eventual position once Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield graduate.

The other option to emerge has been Chris Bryant, the third-year guard that missed all of last season with a broken leg. Bryant is fully recovered and starting to make a push for playing time.

The fluid nature of this spot and its relation to the battle at center are holding the line back from developing a lot of continuity, which is something that this young interior line could certainly use a lot of as it looks to get comfortable. Last year saw U-M do a last minute shuffle between center and guard, swapping Ricky Barnum for Elliott Mealer at the center and left guard positions. It was a sign of bad things to come.

U-M is going to need significantly improved play from the interior of its line this fall if the Wolverines are going to manage to establish a traditional run game that isn't dependent on the now graduate Denard Robinson. The uncertainty at left guard isn't necessarily a bad omen, but it could be if it drags on closer to the start of the season.

Free safety

Another second year player that had established himself as 'the guy' coming out of spring practice was sophomore free safety Jarrod Wilson. The four-star recruit out of Ohio played as a backup last year and had the predictable freshman struggles at the position. However, he had a solid spring and looked to be U-M's best option to replace Jordan Kovacs. U-M doesn't have many established safety options that are also upperclassmen due to a lack of focus on recruiting the position and attrition that saw Marvin Robinson transfer earlier this year.

So far in fall camp Wilson hasn't established himself as a cut and dry starter, and the coaches have begun to look at other options. Jeremy Clark is another young safety on the roster that has gotten a chance to play in practice. However, he is just as young as Wilson and even more raw in terms of experience at the position.

The big surprise is that recently the coaches have begun to give corner Courtney Avery a chance to play snaps at deep safety. It is an interesting move that comes on the heels of Avery challenging incumbent starter Raymon Taylor at one of the corner positions.

It is an unexpected, but not unprecedented move. As Mattison explained, "(If) your three best secondary guys are corners, it's not very intelligent to have someone on the bench in favor of someone else."

U-M's secondary has been one of the best units in the country at limiting big plays from opposing offenses over the last two years, and a lot of that was driven by the sound, veteran leadership of Jordan Kovacs. Jarrod Wilson is the kind of athlete that the coaches want at the position, but he is still short on experience at a position that demands a player not get fooled by the diabolical machinations of opposing offensive coordinators.

If Courtney Avery gives U-M's defense its steadiest presence at that last line of defense, he will be very valuable, as the Wolverines can't afford a regression in big play defense without a major step forward from the defensive line in generating a pass rush and penetration in the run game.

Wilson is still the odds-on future at the free safety spot, but the move of Avery suggests that the future is still a ways off.